CHAPTER TWO
T he Language
of the Visua l Artist
The visual arts have their own language, and the artist
thinks in tercos of that language, just as a musician thinks
in sounds and rhythms, and a mathematician in num-
bers. The basic visual vocabulary consists of the so-called
formal elements of style, which include Line, shape, color,
light, and dark. When artists combine these elements in a
characteristic way, they are said to have a style . In order
to describe and analyze a work of art it is helpful to be
familiar with the artist's perceptual vocabulary.
Form
In its broadest cense, the form of a work of art-literary,
musical, or visual-refers to its overall plan, composition,
or structure. It denotes the relationship between compo-
nent parts, whether chapters of a book, movements of a
symphony, or lines and colors of a painting. The form of a
work depends on how its formal elements are arranged
or organized, and is distinct from its subject matter or
content . In a narrower sense, the form of an object may
refer to its shape, which can also be a component, or
element, within its overall organization.
Balance
In a successful composition, the harmonious blending of
the formal elements gives the work its balance . The most
simple form of balance is symmetry. This is a term whose
original meaning is that there is an exact correspondence
of parts on either side of an axis or dividing line. In other
words, the left side of a work is a mirror image of the right
side. The human body is an example of this type of bal-
ance, as shown in Leonardo's Vitruvian Man (fig. 16.2).
Balance can also be achieved when non-equivalent ele-
ments balance each other. In Berniní s David (fig. 19.14),
for example, the weight of the figure is not evenly dis-
tributed on either side of the central axis. However,
although the parts are not in perfect symmetry, there is a
balance or equilibrium between them which produces an
esthetically satisfying result. This is known as asymmetrical
balance.
Line
A une is the path traced by a moving point. For the artist,
the moving point is the tip of the brush, pen, crayon, or
whatever instrument is used to create an image on a sur-
face. In geometry, a line has no width or volume; in fact it
has no qualities at all except for location. In the language
of art, however, a line can have many qualities, depending
on how it is drawn (fig. 2.1). A vertical line seems to stand
stiffly at attention, a horizontal line lies down, and a diag-
onal seems to be falling over. Zigzags have an aggressive,
sharp quality, whereas a wavy line is more graceful and,
like a curve, more naturally associated with the outline of
the human body. Parallel lines are balanced and harmo-
nious, implying an endless, continuous movement, while
perpendicular, converging, and intersecting lines meet
and create a sense of force and counterforce. The thin
line (a) seems delicate, unassertive, even weak. The thick
one (b) seems aggressive, forceful, strong. The flat line
(c) suggests calmness, like the surface of a calm sea,
whereas the wavy line (d) implies the reverse. The angular
line (e) climbs upward like the edge of a rocky mountain.
(Westerners understand (e) as going up and (f) as going
down, as we read from left to right.)
Expressive Qualities of Line
Many of the lines in figure 2.1 are familiar from geometry
and can therefore be described formally. But the formal
qualities of line also convey an expressive character be-
cause we identify them with our bodies and our experi-
ence of nature. So, in math, a straight line is the shortest
distance between two points and, likewise, a person who
follows a straight, clear line in thought or action is be-
lieved to have a sense of purpose. "Straight" is associated
with rightness, honesty, and truth, while "crooked"-
whether referring to a line or a person's character-de-
notes the opposite qualities. We speak of a "line of work,"
a phrase adopted by the former television program
"What's my Line?" When a baseball player hits a une drive,
the bat connects firmly with the ball, and a "hardliner"
takes a strong position on an issue.
 LINE 25

Regular Lines

Vertical Horizontal Curved

2.2 Lines used to create facial expressions.

In the configuration of the face, it is especially easy to

see the expressive impact of u nes (fig. 2.2). In (a), the
Diagonal Spiral Zigzag upward curves create a happy face, and the downward
curves of (b) create a sad one. These characteristics of
upward and downward curves actually correspond to
the emotions as expressed in natural physiognomy. And
they are reflected in language when we speak of people
having "ups and downs" or of events being "uppers" or
"downers."
Speeches (fig. 2.3), drawn by Saul Steinberg, uses only
Wavy or S-shaped line to convey the character of the two figures and their
"dialogue." The enlarged curvilinear head and neck of the
woman and the long horizontal of the dogs head corre-
Lines in Relation to Each Other
spond to their speech. The floral curlicues "spoken" by the
woman seem mellifluous and demure like her pose, while
the harsh zigzags coming from the dog's mouth suggest a
sharp, rasping bark. Reinforcing this effect are the diag-
onals of its eyebrow and pointed tail, which are contrasted
with the wide-eyed, open expression of the woman.
Parallel Perpendicular Converging Intersecting
(at right angles)

Irregular Lines

(c)

(d)
2.3 Saul Steinberg, Speeches. 1954. Steinberg was born in Romania
and studied architecture in Milan before emigrating to the U.S.A. Since
1940 he has been a regular contributor to the New Yorker. He has
described drawing as "a way of reasoning on papen'; to make a good
2.1 Lines. drawing, he has said, "one has to teil the truth."
 26 2 THE LANGUAGE OF THE VISUAL ARTIST
The importance of line in the artist's vocabulary is illus-
trated by an account of two ancient Greek painters,
Apelles, who was Alexander the Great's personal artist,
and his contemporary Protogenes. Apelles traveled to
Rhodes to see Protogenes' work, but when he arrived at
the studio, Protogenes was away. The old woman in
charge of the studio asked Apelles to leave his name.
Instead, Apelles took up a brush and painted a line of color
on a panel prepared for painting. "Say it was this person,"
Apelles instructed the old woman.
When Protogenes returned and saw the line, he im-
mediately recognized that only Apelles could have painted
it so perfectly. In response, Protogenes painted a second,
and finer, line on top of Apelles' line. Apelles returned and
added a third line of color, leaving no more room on the
original line. When Protogenes returned a second time, he
admitted defeat and went to look for Apelles.
Protogenes decided to levve the panel to posterity as
something for artists to marvel at. Later it was exhibited in
Rome, where it impressed viewers for its nearly invisible
lines on a vast surface. To many artists, the panel seemed
a blank space, and for that it was esteemed over other
famous works. After his encounter with Protogenes, it was
said that Apelles never let a day go by without drawing at
least one line. His experience was the origin of an ancient
proverb, "No day without a line."
Lines Used for Modeling
Even though drawn lines have only two dimensions,
height and width, they can be used by an artist to make an
object appear three-dimensional (fig. 2.4).
2.4 The fines inside the sphere, cube, and cylinder create the illusion
that these objects are solid. They also suggest that there is a source of
light coming from the upper left and shining down on the objects. Such
fi nes are called modeling fines.
The parallel modeling lines on the front surface of the
cube are called hatching . If they intersect other parallel
lines, as in the cylinder and the oblique surface of the cube,
they are known as cross -hatching . The closer the lines are
to each other, the darker their surface. They suggest shade
or shading, which is a gradual transition from light to
dark. Shading appears on the side of the object that is
turned away from the light source. A shadow is seen as
dark and denotes the absence of light; it is cast onto a sur-
face when the source of light is blocked by another object.
Depth
In some styles the artist creates the illusion of three-
dimensional depth in a two-dimensional image. Tech-
niques for achieving this effect include:
• use of modeling lines to simulate three-dimensionality
(fig. 2.4)
• making the nearer object overlap a more distant one
• depicting the nearer object as larger than the more
distant object
• making the base of the nearer object close to the lower
edge of the picture and, conversely, the base of the
more distant object closer to the horizon line.
Perspective
Artists have also developed mathematical systems, known
as linear or geometric perspective , to aid them in cre-
ating the illusion of depth. The simplest system is one-
point perspective . Imagine a person standing in the
middle of a straight road (fig. 2.5). As the road vanishes
into the distance, it seems to the viewer to narrow, even
though in reality its width is constant. The illusion of depth
is enhanced by the fact that equal-sized and equally spaced
objects along the side of the road (trees, telegraph poles)
seem to become smaller, and the spaces between them
shorter (or foreshortened ), as their distance from the
viewer increases.
In early fifteenth-century Italy (see Chapter 15), a system
was developed to provide artists with a method for de-
picting figures and objects as if located at increasing dis-
tances from the viewer. The picture plane (the surface of
a painting or relief sculpture) is conceived of as a window,
whose frame conforms to the frame of the painting. The
edges of rectilinear objects in the picture (often architec-
tural features such as roofs, walls, rows of columns) are
extended along imaginary "lines of sight." These lines,
called orthogonals (from two Greek words, orthos mean-
ing "right" or "straight," and gonia meaning "angle"), are
perpendicular to the picture plane and parallel to each
other. Although parallel lines never meet in reality, the
orthogonals seem to converge at a point known as the
vanishing point (fig. 2.5). In the simplest form of this
method, the vanishing point is on the horizon, at the eye
level of the viewer, but it can theoretically be anywhere
 SHAPE 27

Shape
When lines endose a space, they create a shape, and the
line that outlines the shape is called its contour. Shapes
are another basic unit, or formal element, used by artists.
There are regular and irregular shapes. Regular ones are
geometric and Nave specific names. Irregular shapes are
also called "biomorphs," or biomorphic (from the Greek
bios, meaning "life" and morphe, meaning "shape") be-
cause they seem to move like live, organic matter. Shapes
can be two-dimensional (fig. 2.7) or three-dimensional, in
which case they are solid or have volume (fig. 2.4).
2.5 Diagram of one-point perspective.
Expressive Qualities of Shape
Like lines, shapes can be used by artists to convey ideas
and emotions. Open shapes create a greater sense of
movement than closed ones (fig. 2.7). Similarly, we speak
of open and closed minds; open minds allow for a flow
of ideas, flexibility, and the willingness to entertain new
Vanishing Vanishing possibilities. Closed minds, on the other hand, are in-
point point accessible to new ideas.
Horizon Specific shapes can evoke associations with every-
day experience. Squares, for example, are symbols of

Regular Two-Dimensional Geometric Shapes

2.6 Diagram of two-point perspective.

Circle Square
LI

Rectangle
v Oval

inside the composition, or even outside it, depending on

the artist's organization of content and space. This system
0 D O
Triangle Trapezoid Hexagon
can be used when one side of the object providing the
orthogonals is parallel to the picture plane. It focuses Irregular , or Biomorphic, Two-Dimensional Shapes
attention on a single vanishing point and assumes that
the viewer is standing at a single fixed spot.
Two-point perspective is used when objects are set at
an angle to the picture plane. For example, if the artist
stands at a street corner and paints a building situated
diagonally across the intersection on the opposite corner,
there will be no facing surface parallel to the picture plane
(fig. 2.6). One-point perspective will not work, because
there are two vanishing points on the horizon which are
Open Shapes Closed Shapes
widely separated from each other. If a picture contains
many buildings or objects, each with its own orthogonals,
there can be a number of vanishing points ( multiple-point
perspective).

2.7 Shapes.
 28 2 THE LANGUAGE OF THE VISUAL ARTIST

reliability, stability, and symmetry. To call people

"foursquare" means that they are forthright and unequiv-
ocal, that they confront things "squarely." If something is
"all square," a certain equity or evenness is implied; a
"square meal" is satisfying in both amount and content.
When the term "brick" is applied to people, it means
that they are good-natured and reliable. Too much rec-
tangularity, on the other hand, may imply dullness or
monotony-to call someone "a square" suggests over-
conservatism or conventionality.
The circle has had a special significance for artists since
the Neolithic era (see p.43). In the Roman period, the circle
was considered a divine shape and thus most suitable for
temples. This view of the circle persisted in the Middle
Ages and the Renaissance, when ideal church plans were
also circular.
The appeal of the circle's perfection is illustrated by a
Renaissance anecdote about Giotto. As the story goes, the
pope's messengers scoured Italy to find the best living
artist. When a messenger arrived at Giotto's studio and
asked for a sample of his work, the artist took up a piece
of paper and brush. He held out his arm stiffly as if to make
a compass of his whole body and drew a circle. When the
puzzled messenger asked the meaning of his action, Giotto
told him to take the picture to the pope, who would under-
stand. As soon as the pope saw Giotto's O, he recognized
his genius and summoned him to Rome. From that anec-
dote carne the expression, "You are more stupid than
Giotto's O."
Light and Color
Ught may be technically defined as electromagnetic
energy of certain wavelengths which produces visual sen-
sations when it strikes the retina of the eye. The opposite,
or the absence, of light is darkness. Color, one of the most
powerful elements at the artist's disposal, is derived from
light. Rays of light emanating from the sun are composed
of waves with various wavelengths (i.e. they vibrate at
various frequencies), and these are perceived by the
human brain as different colors. This can be examined
scientifically by passing a beam of light through a prism (a
triangular block of glass): each wavelength is refracted, or
bent, at a different angle. Light can be reflected on to a
screen as a continuous band composed of separate colors
(fig. 2.8)-basically the same phenomenon as a rainbow,
when rays of light from the sun are refracted through
falling raindrops.
Each beam of light contains all the colors of the spec-
trum; but objects look as though they have different colors
because they have pigmentation which allows them to ab-
sorb certain color waves and reflect others. We see a
tomato as red because its pigmentation absorbs every
color of the spectrum except red, which it reflects. The col-
oring materials, or pigments, that artists use also absorb
and reflect different waves. If applied to the surface of an
object, the pigment transfers this quality to the object. The
2.8 The visible spectrum has seven principal colors-red, orange,
yellow, green, blue, indigo (or blue-violet), and violet-that blend
together in a continuum. Beyond the ends is a range of other colors,
starting with infrared and ultraviolet, which are invisible to the human
eye. If all the colors of the spectrum are recombined, white light is
again produced.
colors produced through the use of pigments are not as
pure or intense as the colors in the spectrum. Either they
reflect more than one color, or they reflect one color plus a
certain amount of white light, which makes the basic color
less intense. If all pigments were recombined, the result
would not be pure white but, at best, a pale shade of gray
(see p.29).
Objects that are white, gray, or black (known as
neutrals) reflect all (or none) of the colors in a ray of light
and differ among themselves only in the amount of light
that they reflect. Pure white reflects all color waves;
absolute black (which is very rare) reflects no light at all;
shades of gray reflect different amounts of light-the
darker the gray, the less light is reflected.
Physical Properties of Color
There are seven principal colors in the spectrum. Each of
the seven has many variations, which depend on the three
physical properties of color: hue, value, and intensity.
Hue This is virtually synonymous with color. Red is one
hue, yellow is another. Each has a different wavelength.
Mixing one color with another changes its wavelength and
hence its hue. Red plus yellow, for example, produces
orange; adding more red makes a reddish orange and
adding yellow makes a yellowish orange.
Red, yellow, and blue are the primary colors. They
cannot themselves be produced by combining any other
colors. However, all of the other colors can be created by
mixing the primary colors either in pairs or all together. A
mixture of two primary colors produces a secondary
color: yellow and blue produces green, blue and red pro-
duces violet, red and yellow produces orange. A tertiary

or intermediate color can be formed by combining a pri-
mary with an associated secondary color. Thus mixing
green (which already contains blue) with more blue pro-
duces a blue-green; mixing violet (which also contains
blue) with more blue produces a blue-violet. The number
of intermediate colors is unlimited because the propor-
tions of each mixture can be varied to an unlimited degree.
Hues containing a common color, although in different
proportions, are known as analogous hues and their
combination produces a feeling of color harmony in a
work of art. If only a single hue is used, the work is said to
be monochromatic (from the Greek mono, meaning
"single" and chroma, meaning "color").
The color wheel (fig. 2.9) illustrates the relationships
between the various colors. The farther away hues are, the
less they have in common, and the higher their contrast.
Hues directly opposite each other on the wheel (red and
Breen, for example) are thus the most contrasting and are
known as complementary colors . They are often juxta-
posed when a strong, eye-catching contrast is desired.
Christmas colors, for example, are red and Breen, and
Easter colors are commonly purple and yellow. Mixing
two complementary hues, on the other hand, has a neu-
tralizing effect and lessens the intensity of each. This can
be seen in figure 2.9 as you look across the wheel from
red to green. The red's intensity decreases, and the gray
circle in the center represents a "stand-off' between all the
complementary colors.
P"PI- {a,ed P^^PIe
2.9 The color wheel. Note that the three primary colors red,
yellow and blue-are equally spaced around the circumference. They
are separated by their secondary colors. Between each primary and
its two secondaries are their related tertiaries, giving a total of twelve
hues on the rim of the wheel.
LIGHT AND COLOR 29
Value The relative lightness or darkness of an image is
known as its value, also referred to as brightness, shade,
or tone. An object's value is a function of the amount of
light reflected from its surface. Gray, for example, reflects
more light than black but less than white, which makes
gray lighter than black and darker than white. The
value scale in figure 2.10 provides an absolute value for
different shades. But, in fact, our visual perceptions are
more relative than absolute and are "colored" by the
context in which we perceive something. For example, in
figure 2.11 the band across the center is of a uniform
shade of medium gray (i.e. it has the same value through-
out). However, when seen alongside the darker gray on
the right it looks lighter, and vice versa on the left. Artists
are constantly aware of the absolute values of the shades
with which they are working and of the effect of juxta-
posing different colors.
Value is characteristic of both achromatic works of
art-those with no color, consisting of black, white, and
shades of gray-and of chromatic ones (from the Greek
chroma, meaning "color'). On a scale of color values (fig.
2.12), yellow reflects a relatively large amount of light, ap-
proximately equivalent to "high light" on the neutral scale,
whereas blue is equivalent to "high dark." The normal
value of each color indicates the amount of light it reflects
at its maximum intensity. The addition of white or black
would alter its value (i.e. make it lighter or darker) but not
its hue. The addition of one color to another would change
not only the values of the two colors but also their hues.
Intensity In darkness, colors are invisible; in dim light
they are muted and difficult to distinguish; in bright
light, color is at its most intense. Intensity (also known as
saturation or chroma) refers to the brightness or dullness
of a color. There are four methods of changing the intensi-
ty of colors. The first is to add white. Adding white to pure
red creates light red or pink, which is lighter in value and
less intense. If black is added, the result is darker in value
and less intense. If gray of the same value as the red is
added, the result is less intense but retains the same value.
These three methods are illustrated in figure 2.13. The
fourth way of changing a color's intensity is to add its
complementary hue. For example, when green (a sec-
ondary color composed of two primaries, yellow and blue)
is added to red, gray is produced as a consequence of the
balance between the three primaries. If red is the domi-
nant color in the mixture, the result is a grayish red; if
green is dominant, the product is a grayish green. In any
event, the result is a color less intense and more neutral
than the original.
Expressive Qualities of Color
Just as lines and shapes have expressive qualities, so too
do colors. Artists select colors for their effect. Certain ones
appear to have intrinsic qualities. Bright or warm colors
convey a feeling of gaiety and happiness. Red, orange, and
yellow are generally considered warm, perhaps because
 30 2 THE LANGUAGE OF THE VISUAL ARTIST

2.10 This ten-step value scale breaks the various shades from white
to black into ten gradations. The choice of ten is somewhat arbitrary
because there are many more values between pure white and pure
black. Nevertheless, it does illustrate the principie of value gradations.

2.11 (below) The juxtaposition of objects with different tonal values

produces a contrast. Objects from opposite ends of the value scale
create a very high or strong contrast-the simplest example is the
juxtaposition of black and white.

of their associations with fire and the sun. It has been
verified by psychological tests that the color red tends to
produce feelings of happiness. Blue and any other hue
containing blue-green, violet, blue-green-is considered
cool, possibly because of its association with the sky and
water. It produces feelings of sadness and pessimism (see,
for example, the discussion of Picasso's Blue Period on
p.452).
Colors can also have symbolic significance and suggest
abstract qualities. A single color, such as red, can have
multiple meanings. It can symbolize danger, as when one
waves a red flag in front of a bull. But to "roll out the red
carpet" means to welcome someone in an extravagant
way, and we speak of a "red letter day" when something
particularly exciting has occurred. Yellow can be associ-
ated with cowardice, white with purity, and purple with
luxury, wealth, and royalty. We might call people 'Breen
with envy," "purple with rage," or "in a brown study' if
they are quietly gloomy. The great European plague of
1348 is referred to as the Black Death.
 LIGHT AND COLOR 31

19191919 las
Violet Red -violet Red Red -orange Orange Yellow- orange

1119191919
Black Low dark Dark High dark Medium Low light Light High light White

1900191919
Blue-violet Blue Blue-green Green Yellow-green Yellow

2.12 (aboye) A color value scale. The central row contains a range of
neutrals from white to black; the rows aboye and below match the
twelve colors from the color wheel with the neutrals in terms of the
amount of light reflected by each. 2.13 (below) Changes of intensity.

Scale of neutrals
32 2 THE LANGUAGE OF THE VISUAL ARTIST
Textu re
Texture (from the same word stem as the Latin texo, "I
weave") is another expressive quality at the artist's dis-
posal. It refers to the surface characteristics of an object or
material. These are usually described by adjectives such as
rough or polished, hard or soft, firm or fluffy, coarse or
fine, cold (like steel) or warm (like wood), shiny or matte,
stiff or pliable.
Texture is associated with the tactile sense (the sense of
touch), and indirectly with vision. By touching or feeling
an object, we experience its texture directly. But our eyes
also have a role here. As soon as we see something, we
either recognize its texture from experience or make an
assumption based on how it looks. When we explore art,
the senses of sight and touch interact. Thus, a sculpture of
polished bronze will look and feel hard and smooth.
Unpolished marble will look and feel rough.
It is necessary to distinguish between actual texture and
simulated (or implied) texture. Actual texture is the surface
quality of a real object-canvas, marble, paint-which is
the artist's medium. When artists simulate texture, they
create an illusion.
Until the latter part of the nineteenth century, it was cus-
tomary for painters to use their medium to create illusions
of texture. During the past 150 years, however, certain
painters have begun to incorporate the literal, textural
quality of their medium into the work's impact. Brush-
strokes have intentionally been made visible so as to
arouse the viewer's sense of touch. More recently-since
the late 1940s-many artists have emphasized the medium
to the point where its literal tactile character is a central
aspect of the image.
All of the formal elements of art-whether line, shape,
light, dark, color, or texture-are arranged by artists to
create images. Their final arrangement is called the com-
position of the work. It involves such matters as balance
and harmony, the relationships of parts to each other and
to the whole work, and the effect on the viewer.
Stylistic Terminology
Certain terms have become conventional in describing
works of art, especially with reference to their styles and
shapes. Since they are used throughout this book, the
most important are set out here.
The word "naturalistic" describes a work whose forms
represent figures and objects as they are perceived in
nature. Related terms are as follows:
• figurative: representing the likeness of a recognizable
human (or animal) figure.
• realistic : attempting to depict objects accurately, as
they actually are. In the nineteenth-century style called
Realism (see Chapter 23), artists consciously tried to
depict everyday reality.
• representational: representing natural objects in recog-
nizable form. Note that a work of art may be represen-
tational without being realistic.
All of these terms can be applied to a painting such as
Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa (fig. 16.14).
If an image is representational but falls short of absolute
faithfulness to the original object, it may be that it is:
• stylized : emphasizing certain features, or distorted in
accordance with certain artistic conventions. Stylized
forms can be found in ancient Near Eastern art. The
eyebrows of Gudea (fig. 4.14), for example, are identi-
fiable by virtue of their position aboye the eyes, but they
do not replícate the natural appearance of eyebrows.
• romanticized : emphasizing characteristics which show
the subject matter in a "romantic" light. Chapter 22 con-
siders the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century
Romantic style.
• idealized : representing a figure or object according to
an ideal of beauty or perfection accepted at that time.
Perhaps the most idealized depictions of the human fig-
ure in western art come from the Greek Classical period
(see Chapter 7).
If the shapes within a work of art bear little or no re-
lation to observable or natural objects, they may be called:
• nonrepresentational, or nonfigurative : the opposite
of representational and figurative, implying that the art
does not represent real objects or subject matter.
Examples of such work appear in Chapters 26 to 29.
Certain Abstract Expressionist works contain no recog-
nizable figures or objects.
• abstract : not representing observable objects, but de-
rived or abstracted from real things. Often the artist is
attempting to depict the essence, or intrinsic qualities,
of an object. The result may be representational, in that
the viewer can still recognize the original object.
The transition from naturalism to geometric abstraction
is encapsulated by the early twentieth-century Dutch artist
Theo van Doesburg in figure 2.14. He gradually changed
his drawing of a cow from image (a), which could be called
naturalistic, figurative, or representational, to image (e),
which is an abstract arrangement of fiat squares and rect-
angles. In (a) and (b), the cow's form is recognizable as that
of a cow-it is composed of curved outlines and a shaded
surface that creates a three-dimensional illusion. In image
(c), the cow form is still recognizable, especially as it
follows (a) and (b). It is now devoid of curves, but still
shaded-it has become a series of volumetric (solid, geo-
metric) shapes. Even in image (d), the general form of the
cow is recognizable in terms of squares, rectangles, and
triangles, but there is no longer any shading. As a result,
each distinct color area is flat. In image (e), however, the
shapes can no longer be related to the original natural
form. It is thus a pure abstraction, and is also nonfigurative
and nonrepresentational.
 STYLISTIC TERMINOLOGY 33

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

2.14 Theo van Doesburg , Study for Composition (The Cow). 1916-17.
(a) and (b) pencil, 45/8 X 6% in (11.7 x 15.9 cm); (c) pencil, 4%a X
(e) 53/4 in (10.4 x 14.6 cm); (d) tempera, oil, and charcoal , 155/a X 223/4 in
(39.7 x 57.8 cm); (e) oil on canvas , 143/4 X 25 in (37.5 X 63.5 cm). The
Museum of Modern Art, New York ((a), (b), (d), (e) Purchase, (c) Gift
of Nelly van Doesburg).
34 2 THE LANGUAGE OF THE VISUAL ARTIST
Subject Matter, Content, and
Iconography
The subject matter of a painting refers, not surprisingly, to
what is represented, such as figures, landscape, inanimate
objects, or formal elements such as lines and shapes. The
content refers to themes or ideas contained in a work and
may include its subject matter. In western art there are cer-
tain standard categories of subject matter:
• human (or animal) figures, either in generalized form
or al portraits of specific individuals. This category
may in turn be divided into subcategories that include
religious, historical, and mythological themes.
• landscape-scenes in which human figures are ab-
sent or minimal; subcategories are cityscapes and
seascapes.
• still life, in which the artist arranges inanimate objects
specifically to be the subjects of an image.
• genre (the French word for "kind" or "sort")-scenes of
everyday life.
The word iconography is used to refer to the signifi-
cance of what is represented, the literal and symbolic
meanings of the imagery. In the Mona Lisa (fig. 16.14), for
example, the subject is a woman seated on a balcony in
front of a landscape. The content includes the subject, but
also encompasses the traditional idea of the wornan in
relation to the landscape, even the woman as a metaphor
for landscape.
The iconography of the Mona Lisa has been the subject
of numerous studies and is fraught with controversy. She
has been seen as a symbolic mountain because her form
echoes the distant rock formations. Certain landscape
details, such as the aqueduct, merge into the lines of her
drapery, and the spiral road repeats the undulating folds
of her sleeves. Freud, the pioneer of psychoanalysis (see
p.448), thought that she evoked Leonardo's childhood
memory of his mother-particularly her smile-and that
this explained Leonardo's attachment to the figure's mys-
terious expression. An American physician analyzed her
smile as a reflection of the serene inner satisfaction of a
pregnant woman, and a computer researcher identified
her as Leonardo's self-portrait! Not all works of art are
as elusive as the Mona Lisa, but her case illustrates the
potential complexity of nailing down a precise icono-
graphic interpretation. Most good images are quite
complex and Nave multiple layers of meaning.
Following this brief survey of some of the major visual ele-
ments used by artists , we begin our historical sequence.
Many important works of art are necessarily omitted from
a book such as this. Nevertheless, what follows is an at-
tempt to convey the remarkable range of western . art and
a sense of the artists who created it.